University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Drake University
Panther Defense Denies Drake, 62-43
2/18/2010 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 18, 2010
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team held Drake to a season-low 43 points in a 62-43 win over the Bulldogs in Missouri Valley Conference action Thursday night in the McLeod Center. The win is the Panthers' fifth straight.
Nicole Clausen added 12, all scored from behind the arc. K.K. Armstrong added 13 points and three assists, and Erin Brocka finished with 11 rebounds, five points, five steals and five blocked shots for the Panthers.
Kristin Turk led Drake (13-11, 6-8 MVC) with 14 points and seven rebounds. Jordann Plummer finished with nine points for the Bulldogs.
Clausen made her first two three-point attempts, and K.K. Armstrong sank a floater at the free-throw line to give UNI (12-12, 8-5 MVC) an early 8-2 lead. Drake chipped away, and at 7:27, Kristin Turk hit a free throw to tie the game at 15-15. Clausen hit a three on the Panthers' next possession to put UNI back in front, 18-15.
Drake's Alex Montgomery and Kalin traded baskets to keep the difference at three. Kalin found Wypiszynski posted up under the basket on an inbounds play, and her layup put the Panthers in front by five. Katelin Oney corralled an offensive rebound, and her putback gave UNI a 24-17 lead with 1:59 on the clock.
Monique Jones ended the Panther run with a layup, but Brocka hit a three at the other end to extend UNI's lead to 27-19. Neither team scored in the final minute to send the Panthers into the break with an eight-point lead.
Kalin gave UNI its first double-digit lead with a layup on the Panthers' first possession of the second half. After a defensive stop, Clausen hit her fourth three to put the Panthers in front, 32-19.
Trailing 36-23, Drake scored five straight points to pull within eight, 36-28, but Kalin hit her second three of the game to return the lead to double digits, 39-28 with 13:38 to play.
The Panthers stretched their lead back to 13, but Drake scored five straight, capped by a three from Turk to cut the Bulldog deficit to 43-35 with 10:02 on the clock.
Brocka hit a jumper to put the Panther lead back at 10, but Turk converted a three-point play to cut the UNI lead to 45-38.
Kalin hit a three on UNI's next possession to return the UNI advantage to 10, 48-38. After a jumper from Plummer brought the score to 48-40, Armstrong drove the length of the floor, hitting a layup as she was fouled. Her free throw extended the UNI advantage to 51-40 with 5:35 left.
UNI came up with a steal, and Wypiszynski converted a three-point play on the other end to put UNI in front by 14, 54-40.
UNI led by at least 12 the rest of the way, holding the Bulldogs to just three free throws in the final seven minutes of action.
UNI shot 15-of-53 (43.4 percent) from the floor, including 8-of-18 (44.4 percent) from three-point range. The Panthers were a perfect 8-of-8 from the free-throw line.
Drake shot 36.4 percent (16-of-44) from the floor, including 2-of-8 (25 percent) from behind the arc. The Bulldogs were 9-of-15 (60 percent) from the free-throw line.
UNI scored 26 points off Drake's 22 turnovers, a season high for turnovers by the Bulldogs. Drake tallied 12 points off UNI's 18 turnovers.
Drake's 43 points matches the fewest points scored by a Panther opponent, tying the mark set when UNI topped Southern Illinois 64-43 on Jan. 7. Drake's previous season low in scoring came when the Panthers topped the Bulldogs 59-46 in the Knapp Center on Jan. 22.
UNI returns to action on Sunday when they host Creighton at 7:05 p.m. in the McLeod Center.
